The New Facade
by Kagurazaka
Summary: An AU DC fic. There's a new student at Shinichi's school. Guess who? See inside for more insight. As usual, featuring SS.
1. The Beginning

The New Facade

**Disclaimer: **I don't own DC, but I'm planning to take Aoyama-sensei as a hostage and demand DC to be rightfully mine.

I don't know how people in this section would fare with an AU fic, but please don't flame or anything, I'll try to make this fic at least a bearable AU still with in-character characters. This fic features a pretty clichéd story about the usual oh-so handsome jock and the usual bullied around nerd. I know there's too much clichéd story like this already, but I haven't found any in DC section, so give this a chance, k?. Anyway, onwards with the story!

---

Ai's a nerd. The usual nerd you'd encounter in your school bullied by the jocks, the type of nerd that's always alone because nobody was willing to talk to her. A nerd that used pathetic square framed reading glasses with lenses as thick as god-knows-how-many-inches. Someone who preferred to hide her ugly face and possibly ugly eyes behind those glasses and those annoyingly ugly, neglected hair (or so said the skimpy cheerleaders).

Well, Shiho could easily pass as one of those so-called type of nerd like above, she is, in-fact, one of them. But that's only her façade. Nobody knows what her true self looked like (or even knew it existed). And she was hiding her identity for one good reason. And in order to do that, she had to dye her hair black (not permanent) and tie them into a ponytail instead of letting it loose like she would do in the past.

So here she was, standing in front of a barber shop for a full 12 minutes. Apparently she was looking confused enough for a few guys to decide on hitting her. Yes, she was still her old self, the ravishingly beautiful Miyano Shiho. And she was to change that. Shrugging the ugly guy who was trying to feel her off, she began marching into the barber shop, feeling confident.

_Goodbye Shiho, hello Ai._

---

Whatever confidence she had when she entered the shop suddenly dissipated upon entering. A loud, high-pitched voice greeted her. "Hellooooow, Ojou-sama! What business would a pretty, young girl like you have here?"

"Uh-"

"Come please, sit down. Would you like to cut it shaggy? Or perhaps you'd like a little blue on that lovely hair? Either way, chooseee, tell meeee, your demand is my pleah-sureeehhh"

The idea of dieing her hair black sounded quite smart when she came up with it. At least they wouldn't recognize a Shiho with black hair and nerdy glasses. As wonderful as it sounded, the mere high-pitched voice of the owner already dropped her EQ by, say, 50. Her slim feet had been desperately trying to run out of the place, but her mind, despite the torture, hanged on dearly. _I will have to endure this if I want to stay alive. Do it or die._

"I would," she said through gritted teeth, "like to dye my hair black"

Another wave of shrilled high pitched voice answered her request, effectively dropping her EQ yet another few dozen points.

_Maybe dying wasn't so bad after all._

---

"Hey Shinichi-sama, did you know that there's a new student today?" The question was directed to Kudo Shinichi, the captain of the soccer team and the most popular guy on Beika High.

"No, and I'm not interested. So shut up while I'm trying to finish my homework," he replied snappishly, and the girl who asked the question just for the sake of talking to Shinichi sunk back disheartened, her original intention failing miserably.

The class was much livelier this morning than the other day, thanks to whoever the new student was. Everyone was having their hopes and expectations. Most of the girls were hoping for a gorgeous guy as the new student, while most of the guys were hoping for a dead gorgeous girl. Well, they almost got it. _Almost_. What happened next was clearly for their disappointment.

"Attention class!" the teacher clapped his hands together to get their attention. "Today we have a new student. Please come in, Haibara-san"

The whole class suddenly became very quiet, all of them wondering what kind of person this Haibara is (except for Shinichi of course, who was still busy completing his homework).

The door slid open and from it stepped a totally dorky, ugly, nerdy girl. Those who were expecting too high felt like a _big_ rock was hitting them on their head repeatedly. The whole class groaned, and whispers like, "Wow, that girl is ugly," "Damn, she turns me off", and even, "How can someone as horrendous as her exist" was heard. Ok, she was not _that_ ugly, they were just over-expressing it a bit.

The teacher clapped again and motioned Ai to introduce herself.

"My name is Haibara Ai, nice to meet you," she said monotonously to the class who had apparently lost any interest with her.

The teacher nodded. "Good, I'm Kobayashi Yoshiyuki. Mouri-san, please raise your hand"

A hand shot up from the third row.

"Haibara-san, please seat beside Mouri-san. Class, please be nice to Haibara-san and make her feel welcome"

Ignoring whatever Kobayashi-sensei said next, she made her way towards Ran and sat beside her. Ran smiled and greeted her warmly, "Hi, I'm Ran, yoroshiku"

Ai nodded briefly and resumed to arranging her books. Her behavior made Ran frown slightly, but a realization downed to her and she smiled inwardly, thinking that Ai was still a little shy at her first day here.

Kobayashi-sensei let out a little 'Ah' as he remembered something. "Mouri-san, would you please show Haibara-san around the school at recess?"

An enthusiastic shout of 'Hai' was heard from Ran.

---

An electronic bell chimed throughout the school, warning everyone that it was recess. Ran turned to the stoic girl beside her that she apparently still think as the shy person and said cheerfully, "So, Haibara-san, let's go. I'll show you around the school"

"Thank you for your offer, but frankly I'd enjoy it more sitting here than being dragged around the school by some gi-" Ai was about to say _giddy_, but Ran was already at the door, telling her to follow, that smile that Ai was beginning to get annoyed at still plastered on her face. She sighed; it was no use saying no to this girl.

---

Ran had succeeded on showing her places that she had already memorized the day before from a blue print of Beika High. That tour was as boring as hell to Ai, but at least now they were back to their class, Ran still chatting animatedly about some places. But then she stopped and waved to a guy. Ran walked towards the guy and Ai followed.

"Haibara-san, this is Kudo Shinichi, my child hood friend"

"Nice to meet you," Shinichi smiled at Ai and held out his right hand. Ai stared at it for a few seconds, and finally took it. His grip was firm when they shook hands, indicating that he was an optimistic guy.

Ai smirked, she didn't need to be introduced; she had recognized Shinichi the first time she set her eyes on him.

_Kudo__ Shinichi… We'll definitely go a long way from now on._

**_Continued…_**

****

So how is it? Is this AU good enough? I apologize that Ran may seem like an air head in this fic, it seems that I have to read the manga again to gain more insight about her. Anyways, please R & R, I'd very much appreciate it.


	2. I defy

The New Façade

**Disclaimer: **You know the drill.

ShinichixShiho-san and Amyfowl-san, your questions will be answered as the story unfolds. But no, Shinichi does not know about Shiho or Ai or Sherry or whatever. But maybe… it will change once my twisted mind begins to work again…. Or no.

****

**_I defy_**

This was the only her second day at Beika High, and _only _10 minutes since the third period started, but she was already bored out of her mind. Why bother listen to things she had already learned like, 3 years ago? But even that was better than staring at the ceiling for 50 minutes like some dysfunctional idiot. Then something snapped. She could always just sneak out and skip class right? And it would be a piece of cake with that big fat old jerk teaching on the front busy facing the black board, writing something illegible. Would the class tell on her? No, they wouldn't even care if she committed suicide now. The only problem is Ran, a girl who seemed to care too much about people for her own good.

Anyways, she nudged Ran on the elbow and whispered, "Mouri-san, I need to go to the toilet, and I'm not in the mood to interrupt Yamada-sensei about something as minor as that, so would you please tell him that I went to the toilet when he asked about me?"

"Sure go on!" even in a whisper Ran managed to still cling on her cheerful voice.

Without saying anything more, Ai packed her books and walked calmly out of the class room, ignoring whispers that seemed to be following her out. She got out and slid the door quietly behind her, hearing a piece of conversation between Ran and Yamada-sensei on the process.

"Haibara, answer question number 9. Haibara? Mouri, where's Haibara?"

"She went to the toilet"

"Why didn't she tell me?"

"Haibara-san is afraid that she'd disturb you for that"

"… Mouri… you're too innocent…"

Ai smirked at this. _At least her air head-ness doesn't render her from being at least useful._

---

Somewhere along the long, winding corridors she bumped onto someone.

"Oomph, HEY! Watch out nerd!" That 'someone' was Makimura, not the best person to bump at, at her current state. Makimura was known as the biggest bully on the school, and why a 17 years old would still play bully, she had no idea. Apparently he caught her staring at him with a weird expression.

"Hey nerd, aren't ya gonna apologize? And what's dat looking at me for, HUH?" He massaged his fist, clearly meaning to intimidate Ai. She smirked inside, _Him threatening me? Pity I can't test my Aikido skills on him now. _Despite how much she wanted to just ram him onto the nearest wall, she couldn't risk her disguise to be exposed by doing such atrocious act. Well, at least there's always the other option. The subtle way.

"S-sorry, I-I didn't m-m-mean to. P-p-please forg-g-give me" And she was bad at it. What was originally intended to be an apology full of fear came out as mockery. She was a smooth liar, yes, but unfortunately she wasn't that good of an actress. Well, at least with this kind of thing that is.

Makimura yelled out curses (that I cannot repeat here due to kids probably reading this) and raised his fist, preparing to strike Ai. But before he had the chance to actually punch Ai, a ball came out of no where with the speed of a bullet train and hit him fair on the back of his head, successfully knocking the big meanie out.

She felt almost thankful to whoever that saved her from exposing her disguise. _Almost_. If only Makimura didn't just _have_ to land on top of her and spoil the scene that was supposed to develop to a drama of love between the damsel in bully and the knight with a shiny soccer ball that we rabid Shiho x Shinichi fans would die to read about. Anyway, back to the story.

She let out a startled cry when she felt a huge impact on her body, knocking the daylight and breath out of her. She was almost sure that a few of her bones broke upon receiving the bone-breaking crush. Ai lied there for a few second to adjust her breath back. Then she tried to push the dead weight aside, but it was useless, Makimura would easily weigh twice her weight. After a bit of more struggling, she felt the weight being lifted.

Relieved to be finally free again, she immediately sat up and messaged her sore areas. It took a while for her to remember about her savior. She glanced up and saw Shinichi who was grinning his head off.

"Having fun discovering what being crushed under an elephant feels like?" He said teasingly and offered his hand to help her stand.

Ai ignored it and stood up at her own. She dusted of her clothes and replied sardonically, "Yes, thanks to you trying to save my life, Kudo-_sama_"

"Why did you have to act?"

She was about to leave when she heard this. She paused, her back facing Shinichi. "What do you mean, Kudo?"

"Well, it was obvious wasn't it? You were trying to act force out a shaky apology but slipped and it came out as mockery, rigth? And I suppose you've studied martial arts to a decent level too, looking at you body shape and how you raised your hand to a proper defense stance against his punch at the last moments."

"So?"

"The question is: Why did you have to act as if you're frightened at him when you can just K.O him in a few minutes?"

Ai remained silent, then said, "Don't butt into people's business, Kudo." She paused, then added, "And stop being a perv," and continued to stride away, leaving the confused and somewhat embarrassed Shinichi behind with Makimura still fainting on the ground.

_You're already involved yourself too much as it is._

---

"And she said that, I mean, how can I be a pervert?" Shinichi retorted and kicked a rock out of the way.

"Well, you _did _say something about her body shape, a normal person would automatically assume that you're eyeing them a _bit _excessively to even take notice about something as minor as that," Ran replied with a hint of amusement hidden behind her oh-so-cheerful tone. She had to run a little to keep pace with the boy she secretly had a crush on since junior high.

They were walking home together after school and Shinichi had suddenly told her about what happened between him and Ai. Of course Ran had to practically explain why he was called a pervert because for a high school detective, he was a tad bit clueless about love and things connecting to it. Not that she minded though, he was just cute in his own way, even though she never admitted it.

They kept chatting until they reached the street where they would be heading the opposite way.

"Guess I'll see you tomorrow then," He bid Ran farewell and took the alleyway leading towards the park. He was having the urge to practice his dribbling there and maybe get some fresh air in the process. After three more turns the park came into view. He was about to run there when he notice a girl sitting on the swing.

Shinichi focused his view on the girl and noticed that she was crying. Moreover, that girl was someone he had met a few hours ago.

"Haibara?"

**_Continued…_**

****

I'm beginning to notice that my use of vocabulary has degraded. I seriously need to buy a thesaurus, lol.

I gave Ran a tiny paragraph of her own because I somewhat have the prediction that she'll only be Shinichi's sidekick if I left her that way and kept mentioning her air head-ness, so I've decided to give her a part. Besides, we wouldn't have a triangle or square or whatever love sequence if she's a mere coincidental character right? (Wink) Anyways, hope ya enjoy and R&R.


	3. Messing up

The New Façade

**Disclaimer: **I sooo own DC (squeals)! … And whoever believed that shall be branded loser for the rest of his/her lives.

"Haibara?"

Ai immediately turned towards the voice. She pondered for a moment, trying to have a clear view through her tear stained glassed. She blinked, then to her despair saw Shinichi, some she had unconsciously dubbed, "The official let-me-butt-in-your-live guy'.

"You seem to be appearing at the worst moments, Kudo," She proclaimed Kudo with a sneer, again unconsciously. However the rest of the sentence had no apparent expression at all.

Shinichi looked sheepish upon hearing this, "No, I… never mind about me." His expression turned serious, "Did you just cry, Haibara?"

Ai was taken aback, but her cool expression remained unwavering. She wiped her tears on her cheeks with her sleeve and went back at Shinichi. "Did your detective business go as far as invading people's privacy by asking unnecessary questions and seeing things you're not supposed to see? If it is, I pity Mouri for her involvement with you." Her remark was cold and harsh, and it bit. Shinichi couldn't help but flinch. He suddenly felt guilty even though he didn't have any reason to.

_I was just concerned about you._

Of course he couldn't voice it out. He had no reason to feel guilty or anxiety towards Ai. And she was being difficult too, why would she be angry towards him when he was just asking the obvious? His friends did say that he was being a little too cocky and nosy, but still…

While Shinichi was having trouble sorting out his thoughts, Ai began walking towards him and stopped just before him. Ignoring his "huh?" she fished something out of her pocket and threw it at him. Shinichi caught with his hands and looked at it.

"An eye dropper?"

"Use your deduction skills, Mr. Detective." She gave him her trademark indefinable smirk and left. It was twice that day that she had left him flabbergasted.

---

The next day was a pain on the back side, or so Ai would say. Before the class started, Makimura suddenly appeared with his cronies and tried to pummel Ai, probably due to revenge. Lucky a teacher saw that incident and somehow saved her.

Then at the second period, one way or another she managed to get into trouble. The teacher, Sakaki-sensei, caught her sleeping while she was lecturing the class about safe, err, sex.

"Haibara-san!" Sakaki-sensei's voice billowed, surprising Ai from her deep, peaceful sleep.

Literally.

What was the chance of getting a good with a _certain_ teacher letting out her annoying voice on full blast and an energetic nosey girl nudging you with her elbow every time you were just starting to drift off to dreamland? Close to zero, she would safely assume.

"HAI…BA…RA…SAN" the voice repeated. Sounding slow and clipped, the type of tone you get when you did something wrong and your father was trying to tell you to get back to your senses without screaming his head off. Well, literally anyway.

She ignored how it sounded. The thing that worried her was that it sounded _dangerously _close.

She slowly raised her head and found herself staring at the ugly moon rimmed glasses wearing monster. Her glasses covered eyes met those of the monster.

She smiled weakly, "Oh, hi Sakaki-sensei, is there anything I can help you with?" Even though she tried with all her might to sound _at least_ polite and respective, what came out was a dull, lifeless tone, a tone that showed anything but politeness and respect. Didn't she mention that she had trouble controlling the tone of her voice?

The mons- the teacher glared at Ai. If looks could kill, she might as well be lying 6 foot under the ground in some abandoned cemetery by now. Not that she was the least affected or anything. We're saying things from the perspective of a normal human being.

"May I ask you" Sakaki said with fake sugary sweet voice, "Why are you sleeping in my class?"

_Just trying to figure out about what you did with the principal in his office the other day._

"I…" Ai started to say, but was cut by Sakaki.

Well, she was going to say that she wasn't exactly sleeping; she was merely not paying attention _with _her eyes closed. Not that it made any difference anyway. It'll only land her deeper into the pit hole of trouble.

"Now, I know what you're going to say-"

_Oh really? What am I going to say anyway? _She knew it sounded silly, but replying to the teacher inside her mind made her feel slightly better.

"-Detention seems a bit harsh for a new student like you, so I will give a chance to redeem yourself."

_What am I, a criminal being admitted to court?_

"So would you kindly give your opinion about the discussion we had before?"

_Crap._ Ai glanced at the board. There was some scribbling about being responsible and safe. Then next to it was a drawing of a circle inside a square, then the word rubber and latex next to it with an arrow pointing to the circle. She had no bloody idea. Although a vague recollection of something entered her mind briefly, it was too well, vague for her to remember anything useful. But she decided to give it a shot anyway.

"…fitting a circle inside a square is safe and responsible?" She could've sworn that that was the single dumbest sentence she had said in her whole life. She was surprised that no one even laughed at what she said, judging by the horror stricken face of Ran.

Sakaki stood completely still, looking very, very pissed off and angry and hateful and an array of other expressions that would mean trouble, _serious trouble. _Ai knew that now Sakaki was the same as an extremely fragile time bomb that would explode any minute.

Then, from the back a ring of laughter exploded. This, unfortunately, also triggered for the explosion of the teacher.

_"KUDOOOOUUHAIBARAAAA!DETENTIONNN!"_

---

**_Click._**

****

**_Click. Click._**

Ai pressed her mouse numerous times, clicking through files that didn't seem to end. 30 minutes had passed since she began searching for that file and she still hadn't found it. _Can't those teachers arrange things a bit more neatly? And the tech center's as hot as hell, how would they expect anyone to study at this atmosphere? Oh, they're not here, why would they care about us anyway? _Not that it mattered anymore though; she was simply fed up of searching.

And those girls in the back weren't exactly helping her mood.

"Gee, that girl's really ugly you know?" One seemed to say, and she didn't even try lowering her voice.

Ai twitched.

Then the other said back mockingly, "Yeah, and yesterday I saw her talking with Kudo-sama!" She practically shrieked the last word out.

"Damn, and she was having detention with Kudou-sama after this!" Some other girl chimed in.

"She was pretending to cry after being bullied by Makimura, she's trying to make him pity her, I mean, that's so wrong, can't she see her own totally hideous face? I'm sure Kudo-sama like, also thinks that she's a total bitch, but he's like too kind to ignore her! And I would put a hundred bucks up that she intentionally landed herself in detention just to be with Kudou-sama!"

Veins began popping on Ai's forehead. The pen in her hand threatening to snap in two.

_Calm down, Shiho, just pretend that they're a bunch of old hags gossiping over worthless things._

"Too true, we'll have to confront her if this keeps going. Anyways, I wonder what she looks like under her glasses, I mean she's already ugly even with glasses, bet she'd be the ugliest thing in the world without it!"

"And her hair's totally coarse too" (A/N: Sorry for the insults that seemed too light, I'm bad at insulting, well not that much, but if I put anything heavier here, the rating would go up)

_No, pretend they're lab rats being experimented upon and that's their cry of pain... _

"You know what? I bet her parents regret having her in the first place, heck; I'd immediately abandon my baby if it's as hideous as her"

**_Snap_**

****

_Oh, the pen broke._

Then with the speed of a shinkansen, a string of R rated colorful words ran through her mind. She muttered those words under her breath and would've already taught those bitching girls a lesson if it wasn't for a particular someone interfering.

A hand shot out of nowhere and grabbed her shoulder. She spun around and came face to face with no other than Mouri Ran.

"You should just ignore them you know? They're just jealous that you're already the top student when you've just moved here for a few days," She said to the oh-so-pissed Ai with a worried look plastered all over her pretty face.

Ai glanced over to the girls who were still gossiping about her. She'd gladly run 100 laps if that was the case. But she had to thank Ran nonetheless; her anger had dissipated a little because of the interruption. It was only tiny potion of the whole, but it was enough to regain her right self back, the always calculating, cold and rational Miyano Shiho.

"Yes, I will take your advice into account. There's no use noticing them. Thank you for your advice, Mouri-san" She said callously and went back to her seat.

Despite how polite she had sounded; Ran couldn't help notice the coldness of her tone and somehow felt that she disliked her for some reason.

Several minutes later the bell rang. Ai frowned then sighed. She packed her things up and began walking steadily towards the detention room.

**_Continued…_**

****

Hmmm…I'm beginning to think that this fic sucks. Anyways, please review, my soul would be lost without it.


	4. Unruly Decision

The New Façade

**Disclaimer: **DC is something that I will not have, ever. (Can anyone give a reason why is this thing necessary?)

Please do not venture further I you dislike clichéd stories. I repeat, do not venture further. This story is riddled with clichés and I have no intention to have people flaming me because they didn't check this warning before hand. If you're not one of those people, feel free to scroll downwards and read this oh-so-clichéd story.

**Unruly Decision**

One hour before detention-

"Yo, Shinichi, how ya doin?" A guy said to Shinichi who was busy writing something on his notebook.

"Fine. What's up Niji?" He replied, put his pencil down and stared at Niji fixedly. "Judging by your tone, you have something up your sleeve huh?"

Niji looked surprised for a second, and then grinned widely. "Yeah, I guess you're right. You're the high school detective after all."

Shinichi raised his eyebrow. "So, what is it? Another way freak Ran out? I'd personally recommend that you stay clear from that idea for your own good."

The one he addressed that warning to laughed nervously. "No, no, she almost broke my neck the last time I put a frog inside her bag, and there's no way I'd like to repeat that experience ever again."

Shinichi gave a knowing smile. "So? What are you up to this time then?"

"You know the new student right? Hai something?"

"Haibara? Yeah, I do recall some unpleasant meetings with her, but what about her?" He said with curiosity.

"Well, you see…me, Kou and Taka made a bet…" Niji said, somehow stuttering his words. Shinichi was getting impatient.

He continued, "And… we betted that you… well… I mean I betted that if you can successfully…uh- ask that Hai something on a date-"

"WHAT?" Shinichi shouted suddenly, torn between outrage, horror and unbelieving. Everyone around him went silent and stared at him as if he was some kind of a freak. He noticed this and lowered his voice.

"Are.you.insane?" His voice sounded clipped and angry, and he had a good reason to; what normal guy would want to date a nerd such as Ai? And he didn't say that because she was someone that would be categorized as ugly, he's not someone to judge a book by their cover, but because of her coldness. Dating her would be similar to dating an iceberg.

"Well, if I won, I'll get 50,000 yen, and we'll split if fifty-fifty, pretty reasonable right?"

"Why, you ungra-" Niji literally shoved a photo onto his face, cutting him in mid-sentence. "What?'

"Look at it _closely_"

He stared at it; it showed him holding hands with a pretty girl. He tried to process the picture onto his brain.

_Why the heck was I with a girl? I've never even been on a date before, what- _

"Let's see what will the outcome of you rejecting to date her be, huh? Your girlfriend, Ran-_neechan_ would probably find this photo by _accident_, and then she'd hate you, again for some _unknown _reason, and your love live would end right there."

Shinichi stared at his friend, totally flabbergasted and unable to say anything.

Then realization dawned into Shinichi. He knew that photo was computer altered, and Ran would surely believe him, right? …Wrong. She's way too easy to believe people, and if she was given a photo of him and some girl looking like they're on a lovey dopey date, she'd freak out for sure and maybe wouldn't even speak to him for like, eternity. He couldn't risk that and decided to play cool.

"One, she is _not_ my girlfriend. Two, it was computer altered. Three, she wouldn't believe it. So why would I be involved in your dumb bet? There's simply no reason to" He tried to keep his voice from shaking in panic, and made direct eye contact with his friend-turned-professional-blackmailer to prove that he was one hundred percent sure.

Niji didn't seem the least bit affected, he even made eye contact back at Shinichi, a motion that was clearly meant to challenge him.

Shinichi gulped, and admitted defeat, he was never good at intimidation. "Fine, you win, I'll date her okay? As long as you don't give that thing to Ran, got it?"

Niji grinned cunningly, "Yes sir! And when will you date her, pretty boy?"

"As soon as I can" He said dejectedly and went back to writing at his note book. Niji left with a smug grin plastered on his face.

Shinichi sighed, he felt bad about the whole thing. Doing this bet meant that he had to hurt Ai's feeling one way or another. He knew that feeling, and he wasn't keen to let other suffer such terrible thing. But he had to nonetheless, or else Ran would hate him, and even though they were never considered officially dating, he knew she had feelings for him, and he in fact loved her dearly too. But as was their nature, they were too shy to admit one's feeling towards another. That, and the fact that he needed money to buy Ran's birthday present. 25,000 yen totaled with his saving will surely be enough. It seemed that he had to do this, both for his and her sake; even though he'd have to hurt Ai's feeling in the process.

He once again set his pencil down and diverted his gaze to the ceiling. He was watching the fan going around in circles with amazing speed when something clicked. He could always be straightforward and just tell her about the bet and ask her on a pretend date right? Hopefully.

---

Ai entered the detention room and nonchalantly sat beside Shinichi. It seemed that they were the only ones who received detention today. She pulled out a book out of her bag and began reading it apparently oblivious to the presence of Shinichi beside her.

"Hi Haibara, good weather today huh?" He said, trying to open a conversation. He was hoping that she would at least say something decent to avoid the awkward silence that was engulfing them (at least to him anyway) and make his plan easier to complete.

Ai remained silent. The only sound audible was the rustling of paper when she turned a page over. In desperate attempt, he peered at the book she was reading.

"Pretty face? You like that manga too huh?"

_Please, please say something or just nod so we can have a normal conversation like normal people so I can say that to you. _He half thought half wished. He waited for the reply. Nothing.

Another rustle of turning page.

Shinichi was in vain. He had tried to strike a conversation between them twice, both times had failed, and he didn't dare even think that the third attempt would be a success, but he decided to try despite the consequences that he might face.

"Look, I'm sorry for what happened the other day, Haibara. I really didn't mean to be snooping, it was just… you seemed so sad…" He waited, and waited, and finally Ai spoke.

"Apology accepted," she said it with a voice so soft that it was closer to a whisper. When Shinichi was about to ask for a re-confirmation, the teacher from hell, Sakaki kicked the door open and went in. She walked haughtily and stopped before them.

Ai put her book away, crossed her hands together and pretended to stare at her in rapt attention; she noticed that Shinichi was also doing the same thing. It was better not to annoy a pissed off teacher, she learned it the hard way at her old school. She stood up to a teacher who was as pissed as Sakaki now and had to run 65 laps after that. Not something she'd enjoy repeating.

Sakaki eyed them curtly and slammed down a big pile of books, thirty, hard looking books to be precise. Shinichi noticeably gulped. She had been famous for her excruciatingly harsh detention methods, but he had absolutely no idea that she would make them do something so cruel and unorthodox like.

"Excuse me miss? Do we have to finish all of these?" He asked nervously.

She glared at him, Shinichi shrank back. "I'm glad you're at least using half of your dimwit brain, Mr I'm-a-famous-detective-in-detention." Talk about funky vocabulary for a teacher.

She paused and watched him smugly as his face went from horror, to surprised, and back to horror again. Besides him Ai remained impassive.

Satisfied, she continued, "You shall not leave school until you have finished _every_ single page of this highly education books, and I won't give a damn if it takes you forever to finish it, or if you died from brain dysfunction. NOW START WRITING FOR GOD'S SAKE!" She shrieked, stomped off, yanked the door open and disappeared from sight.

Shinichi's gaze landed on the book, apparently disheartened. Then he glanced sideway at Ai, "You seem awfully calm for someone who had just received the harshest punishment in the history of Beika High." The only thing he got as a respond was a shrug.

She fished out a calculator and a pen from her bag. She grabbed a book on chemistry from the pile and began working on it.

The young detective is distress watched her figure for several moments and decided it was the best time to tell her about the bet.

"Haibara?"

She kept on writing.

He cleared his throat and spoke cautiously, "Look, my friend made a bet that involved me asking you out on a date and if-"

"If you refuse, whoever made that bet will give Mouri-san a photo of you and a girl and you don't want that to happen, correct?" She said deadpanned, continuing his sentence.

Shinichi was shocked, utterly impassably shocked. "What? How did you-"

"I was there."

_Silence._

"…………………….Oh." _How can Niji be so careless? That brat… _He cursed inwardly.

She gave him an amused expression, "So, aren't you asking me out? Or have you changed your mind?"

His face lit up, thinking that maybe Ai was in the mood to be kind and decided to help a poor soul such as him. "Of course! Would you go on a date with me?"

Ai turned around and gave him her sweetest smile. Shinichi brightened up even more, feeling absolutely positive that she going to help him.

Then, slowly, her smile transformed into a smirk, "No." She said it flatly, with no hesitation at all. It seemed that she was toying with him the whole time.

Shinichi literally felt a slab of brick hit him fair on the face. As quickly as it went, he regained his composure back. He made a decision to go with the 'Pleading' strategy. Well, just to be blunt, it wasn't a strategy to start with, he really felt like pleading if that could help.

"Please Haibara! Just go on a pretend date with me for a day! It's only a pretend date, you've got nothing to lose, pretty please?" He pleadingly pleaded. (A/N: What a weird use of words, lol)

She raised her eyebrow, "Your pleading amuses me, Kudou, I assume that you will also go to the depths of hell for this bet?"

He continued to look at her with doggy eyes.

_Very uncharacteristically Kudou Shinichi, _Ai thought, still wearing her trademark smirk. For once he looked like a kid begging for an ice cream. Of course, all of this was definitely increasing her enjoyment of watching him suffer.

"It is true that I have nothing to lose, but I have nothing to gain either." She said.

Shinichi was taken aback. Yes, what would he offer her so that she would agree… opt to do her homework? No, she's definitely smarter than him and she showed it. Give her money? Absolutely not, he was going to save up for Ran's birthday and he couldn't afford to waste it and disappoint Ran, after all, all of this was for that. After an array of impossible and stupid things, he finally found the answer. It was still quite dumb, but smarter than the others anyway.

"If you agree, I'll do whatever you command me to do!" He exclaimed, rather pleased that he came up with a good solution quite fast.

"When?"

"Huh?"

Sighing, Ai wondered if this whole ordeal had somehow lowered his IQ. She rolled her eyes.

"Location? Time? Date?" She inquired as she placed her calculator and pen back at her bag.

Shinichi felt like he was on the top the world (Well, he already was, but you see, happy people usually had their logic screwed). He practically bounced from happiness. "The amusement park, 10 at the morning, this Saturday. Oh, Haibara, thank you! I really owe you one!"

Her smirk grew wider, "No need, Kudou, you'll pay it back in a very satisfying manner."

Her tone was casual, but he had a bad feeling, a _very _bad feeling. Then he noticed that Ai was now standing with her bag slung over her shoulder. She wasn't going to do what he thought she was going to do, right?

"Uh… Haibara? Where are you going?" He asked feebly.

She was almost at the door when she answered, "Home." She ignored him who was shutting and opening his mouth dumbly and went through the door, muttering something that sounded like, "Enjoy" as she was leaving.

He was about the chase her and drag her back to demand explanation when he noticed a note lying on his desk, near the neatly piled books. _Since when- _He immediately grabbed it and began reading.

_Thinking about dragging me back, Kudou? How ignorant of you, this is what came across my mind when you offered to do anything for me._

He could almost imagine Ai smirking when he read this. He continued.

_Well, enjoy your task at hand, tantei-san. Your dear relation with Mouri-san depends on this, as well as my school life, I have no intention on further angering Sakaki-sensei because of your blunder. Make sure you do finish it on time._

_Ai._

Shinichi stared at the note in his hands with utter shock. _Is she expecting me to finish all of this? That's ridiculous, even Einstein couldn't possibly accomplish it without experiencing some sort of brain seizure before hand_. He looked at the books. _Why should I do it anyway? I wouldn't care what Sakaki-sensei does next. Yeah, I'll just neglect this whole thing and head home._ After he decided this, his eyes wavered on the note and hit the continuation.

_P.S. If by any chance you have neglected this, I myself will make sure that you and Mouri-san's relationship shall not go any further. _

_P.P.S. Consider yourself lucky for succeeding on asking me out. It is not often that someone can ask me out without waiting three hours in line. I wish you luck for your bet and detention._

It was twice that he had stared at that note with utter shock. The frightening fact had been implanted on his brain permanently. He could not, in any circumstances, back up. Not unless he wanted to lose Ran of course. He shook his head, feeling quite lost and hopeless. He understood perfectly the P.S part, but what he didn't quite grasp was the P.P.S part. _Why the heck would anyone wait three hours in line to date her? _Ah well, maybe that will be something for him to solve. He grabbed a book, flipped to a random page and began his first mark on detention that day.

_**Continued…**_

Thank you for the reviews indicating that my fic doesn't suck. I guess maybe it doesn't after all; I was just rather, uh, feely that day.

I'm sorry for making this story a bit too clichéd, but I had no intention to make it excessively clichéd. Unlike some other nerd-jock stories, here the jock, Shinichi wouldn't develop his feelings _extremely _fast for the nerd, Ai. I was always dismayed when reading other fics with the jock who mysterious had feelings for the nerd _right _after they had a memorable experience or a bet. It's just not right for some reason. There was no way Shinichi would feel for Ai as fast as them, he still loved Ran, and those two were late bloomers to say the least. Anyways, I love clichés, so that's why I'm writing one, enjoy!

P.S. I feel like I'm updating too fast…maybe I should slow down and release chapters like once a month? How about that? Do you guys agree?

P.P.S. **Please review! I will hug you, cherish you, grovel over you and so on if you decide to do it. Pretty please?**


End file.
